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Milton and Edgerton high school students spent Tuesday morning getting a harsh dose of the real world during the sixth annual Reality Check event at Milton High School. Based on chosen interests, students were assigned careers, marital status and children and had to survive a simulation of what it costs to live for one month without parental help.

“They need this education. They need financial literacy,” said Amy Kenyon, Milton career and technology education coordinator. “If we prepare them with an event like this, at least it starts them thinking, and they won't make those money mistakes we all made during high school or after high school.”

The Milton School Board late last year approved a financial literacy course students will be required to take before graduating.

“It's been a rough road,” Milton High School senior Rachel Butterfield said.

“I learned that the real life world is very stressful and that taking care of money is really hard,” Kylee Casper, another participant from Milton High School said. “This taught what I can spend and can't spend with my job, and I should probably look at what I have left.”

“I guess I didn't really know how complicated this all is,” Butterfield said. “I definitely think it's given me some perspective on what is going to happen in the future, so this is a good idea—a good reality check.”